G B Tucker

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G B Tucker died at his home in Elk Grove, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012. He was 83.

Born in Terrell, Texas, Sept. 18, 1929, he was the only son of Gilmer B. Tucker and Leda Belle Jones. His mother died May 9, 1931, when G B was 20 months old.

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946 at the age of 16, served during the wars in Korea and Vietnam and retired with the rank of major in 1970. While in the service, he married Elizabeth Audrey “Bettye” Hilliard (born in Canada, Dec. 11, 1926). In the early 1970s, they and their three children, Patricia, Ed and Mike, moved to a cabin on 22.5 forested acres in rural Nevada County.

Starting in 1978, G B Tucker played a leading role in the Red Dog-You Bet Association, founded to protect property rights and promote environmental issues in areas accessed by Red Dog and You Bet roads between Banner Mountain and the Bear River. In the early 1980s, he helped organize the Sierra Nevada Group of Mother Lode Chapter, Sierra Club, and was an active member of its Management Team for decades. In 2005, he was honored at the Mother Lode Chapter’s Clair Tappan Annual Awards Party for the excellence of his service. In the mid 1980s he helped organize the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Nevada County (FONA). His wife, Bettye, died Dec. 6, 1987, and she was buried in the historic You Bet cemetery on Red Dog Road.

G B Tucker was elected to Nevada County Board of Supervisors from the 5th District in November 1988. A year later, Dec. 31, 1989, he married Ms. Teresa Carli and completed his term on the board in January 1993. Newly elected County Supervisor Barbara Green appointed him to replace herself on the Nevada County Planning Commission in 2001.

During his years in Nevada County, he was a proud member of Grass Valley Marine Corps League No. 885. In 2010, G B Tucker sold his property and moved to Elk Grove to be near his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There, he was an active member of the Glenbrook Del Webb community until shortly before his death.